The current invention relates to the creation and editing of masks for waveform testing, and more particularly to an in-context creation and editing of masks and waveforms that does not use extra equipment and connections.
It has become common practice in various automated waveform testing situations to compare a waveform against a mask to provide an alarm or to capture waveform data when the waveform is out of limits according to the mask. For example the 2430 Oscilloscope manufactured by Tektronix, Inc. of Beaverton, Oreg. has a “Save-on-Delta” feature, U.S. Pat. No. 4,510,571, that allows the ability to automatically capture a waveform that falls outside a defined mask or template. The template may be a previously captured waveform plus or minus specified tolerances, or may be one generated by a computer and downloaded into the instrument. Also masks are used as measurement tools to either ride on a signal to provide an instantaneous measurement for the waveform, or to be manually adjusted to touch the waveform in order to provide a measurement for the waveform. Such an instrument is the VM700 Video Measurement Test Set manufactured by Tektronix, Inc. of Beaverton, Oreg. The adjustments do not provide for arbitrary adjustment, but merely scaling adjustments without altering the configuration of the mask or template. These masks or templates are preloaded into the instruments, with new or altered masks being generated by an external computer for downloading into the instruments.
What is desired is an easier/faster way to create/edit waveform templates or masks for a test instrument without the use of external equipment.